Ballmer said Microsoft regards Turkey in the same category as countries like Brazil, Russia and China, noting that there exists great potential in the Turkish market, which has a young population eager to use new technology. Stating that they have 7,000 business partners in Turkey, he said that with a population of 72 million along with a growing economy, the country has major potential to develop both in its region and the world.Ballmer was speaking yesterday at a meeting organized to introduce Microsoft Turkey’s recently appointed general manager, Tamer Özmen, to the press and the company’s business partners. Özmen, speaking at the event, drew attention to the need for larger investments in information technology in Turkey. The share of money spent on software and services in gross domestic product (GDP) in France, Germany and the UK is some 11 times more than in Turkey, he noted. “We need to develop further the information technologies sector in Turkey. Half of the population is under the age of 29 and more active compared to others. Currently Turkey ranks second in the number of Live Messenger users around the world, while it is the third country on the list of countries with the highest Hotmail members and the fourth in Facebook members. However, such use of [information technology] contributes almost nothing to the economy. Yet, European economies enjoy billions of dollars in contribution from entrepreneurial companies established in the past 10 years. We are aiming at creating an entrepreneurial economy in this field and to add to the economy.”
Turkey needs to innovate and increase its production potential in order to catch up with countries like Brazil, India and Mexico, Özmen said. He said the country needs to shift from investing more in hardware to software and services instead.
